Volunteers?

She was definitely in!

If there was one thing that Gold loved, really loved, it was a good duel. Which was exactly why she wasted no time in rising to her feet, and joining Professor Truebridge. Stuff related to duelling was good stuff! Well, most of the time... and she wanted to help, too.

Soo ...

What did they get to do, now?

For a minute, Wesley almost, seriously considered volunteering. For the experience.

But then, glancing around the arena, taking in all of her peers, she decided not to.

Too scary.

Instead, Arithmancy Textbook laying on her lap for support, the 3rd year continued to copy down the notes on the orb, biting her lip as she attempted to put everything into memory. It was safe back here.

Volunteers??

Gulping a little bit, she tried not be put off by this man who seemed not to be able to smile. She for one could barely imagine a week without smiling much less any more time then that. it was simply in her nature. Had he been that way once too?

Unknowingly, Ivory's eyes were glued to the man, observing him as only a child could do, as she made her way to join him and the other volunteers.

Did the Bunz make him smile? She certainly hoped so. Every relationship should have mutual smiling moments...right?

Pondering over this matter with some intent, her mind couldn't really comprehend a long time without smiling. In fact, that was it. It was now going to be one of her personal goals to make this man smile at some point during her schooling. That is if he stayed here long enough.

Nodding her head affirmatively, she reached into her robes and withdrew her wand.

As always, when the warmth shot through her body and pinpointed at the small blue flame at the tip of her wand that was descriptive of her wand's core, she always felt just a little more complete. As if it was an extension of herself that she hadn't really known existed until it just was.

Taking a stance beside Arya, she gave her friend a little friendly nudge with her hip and stood at the ready, her eyes and ears wide for the listening. This Professor had said there'd be no Unforgivables and just knowing that made her feel better and she felt safer knowing how strongly he felt about that.

Jack watched as a few people stood up to volunteer, and others did not. He had...six volunteers up there, but Jack stood up anyways and joined them, even though the numbers would be uneven. Maybe Truebridge would let him duel HIM!

Or maybe they would just do target practice or something in which case it probably wouldn't matter how many they needed.

He twirled his wand in his fingers and waited for further instructions.

Violet so badly wanted to go up, but decided for the best of everyone else she didn't go.

Sigh.

Although there were already a half-dozen people on the platform... Raiden jumped at the chance for practise. He wanted to be able to work on casting without having it be against a twelve year old student. He joined the others on the platform, slightly hesitantly, as if he expected Truebridge to tell half of them to sit back down. How many volunteers would he take, after all?

Everyone was getting up there. Great. Then she saw Raiden move up to the platform. Goodness, was the entire class going to volunteer? With a sigh she stood, but didn't move to the platform, quite yet. Instead she waited to see if the teacher would need anyone else.

"Lina your going to go up there? I would but I don't want to hurt anyone" whispered Violet then giggled. "Who am I kidding of course I want to hurt someone but, this is just to boring."

Noting the boy's hand shoot up, Ethan nodded and gestured at him.

"Come on up then, Tiberius." Because obviously the boy wanted to join in, did he not?


"Alright Lina, up you come." The more the merrier in this particular case.

"If it is too boring you may leave my class now. In fact I insist upon it." Truebridge spoke sternly, his eyes boring into the little Slytherin.

"As for the rest of you, we're going to quickly learn a jinx which is a variation of the knockback jinx, far more effective for dueling than the Flipendo spell is. It is ideal for what we are about to do because the strength and range of the spell can be finitely controlled and the better you get and the more you practice, the greater your range and strength will be. The incantation is Histedius, the wand movement is a flick and then a jab crossing the other way." He demonstrated, cutting a cross shape in the air in front of him. "The spell will conjure circles of green light which will almost home in on your target and exert a strong pressure, ideally knocking it over." He demonstrated again, this time the green rings shot out of the end of his wand and spread to the target like blips on a radar, knocking it over. The targets set themselves up again.

"I would like the volunteers to one at a time work your way from the closest point here," Truebridge flicked his wand at a line on the platform, which glowed obligingly, "and backwards to these other four points." The other points flashed too, all about four feet apart from one another. "Attempt to knock the targets and take note of how the effect of the spell weakens over a distance. You are welcome to stay at each point until you manage to hit the target and do not be alarmed if you do not manage to do much damage for now, the purpose of this is merely to show how range can effect the strength of your cast. Anyone who casts on another student will be given detention immediately, that is not the task right now."

He eyed the other students, those who had not volunteered. "There will be an opportunity to practice and learn this spell at the end of the lesson for those of you who have not chosen to join in. For now I would like for you to observe and take note. We will discuss the finer points of this particular spell towards the end of the lesson and I will help anyone who wishes to know more about it then."


ooc: For those of you who are volunteers, go ahead and post trying the spell out using the incantation and wand movement provided. From the targets there is a line about four feet back and then at 8 feet, 12 feet, 16 feet and 20 feet. For those of you who have characters that are LEARNING the spell for the first time, I expect that the target will not be completely knocked over and certainly the further back your character moves, the weaker the spell will be. Have fun and be creative with this and feel free to have your character attempt it as many times as you like, either succeeding or failing at certain points.

For those of you who are observing, post reactions, post observations, take notes, whatever you like. Be creative.

Everyone will have a chance to 'learn' the spell at the end of the lesson, whether they've volunteered now or not and whether or not they manage to cast it now or not. There is more to this spell than simply knocking things down we'll get to that later.

Mina glanced at all the volunteers. She really did prefer to watch at first before even thinking about trying it out herself. Watch, analyze, and then make it work for you. Yes, that's what she was going to do.

Pulling out a small piece of parchment, she jotted down notes. Observing the set up of the targets, she tilted her head and tried to figure out how she would approach it, if she had volunteered and how the wand movement looked like. Looking back down to her parchment, she draw a few pictures of the targets and the wand movement.

Looking up, she waited to see how the volunteers did.

Wut? Noooooo. Tiberius' face fell as Truebridge beckoned him up front. Apparently he had not pulled his hand down fast enough.

Begrudgingly, he got to his feet and made his way to the other volunteers, watching the demonstration of the wand movement closely. At least it's on targets and not people...

Stepping to the group, far enough back that he could watch a few others try first, he repeated the incantation in his head. Histedius. Histedius. Histedius. Histedius....

Cedric interestedly listened to their professor's instructions. So what they were gonna be learning today was a spell that would be very useful for a young wizard like him but of course, spells being thought by Professor Truebridge could never be that simple to do. He found the incantation easy to say and the wand movement was as easy as performing a conjuring charm but who knows, that spell might be hard for him.

Being in front of the class made Ced a bit nervous because of all the keen, skeptical eyes that were gazing at him. He took out his wand briskly, performed the wand movement as he uttered the incantation. There were circle of green lights that appeared out of his wand but it was rather too feeble it didn't even had reached the target which was just 4 feet away from him. Maybe he did something wrong, and he wouldn't stop trying to do the spell till he entirely mastered it.

Lina walked up to the target, barely her height away. It almost seemed ridiculously close. "It seemed a little like telekinesis, or a knockback..." She practiced a few times. Flick, jab. Flick, jab. That didn't seem so hard. And so, flick, "Histedius!" jab! Green, then.... Thud! She blinked as the target wavered, falling over and getting back up. Wait, what? She looked at her wand as though it had betrayed her. "What did you do?!"

Oh, well done, Lina. You've fallen victim to your own potion, and now you're making a fool of yourself accusing your wand of doing something without you in front of everyone. Blushing bright red she moved back to the next line.

"Fine I will, it's funner annoying that stup- Professor Kazimeriz anyway!" she said and strutted out of the class, mumbling something about stupid professors.

Well this was a first, she was actually gonna learn a spell in her defense class. She didn't count the first class seeing how she would never use that spell, even if she was capable of casting it. Nudging her friend back with a small grin she listened to the professor, excited about the jinx they would learn. Arya watched as Truebridge demonstrated the spell for them, mimicking his wand movements as her eyes followed the green light to the target. Mumbling the incantation to herself she continued to listen to the professor, her eyes darting from the lines on the floor to Truebridge.

Twirling her wand ever so slowly as she walked up to the line closet to the target, concentrating on her magic. After a few moments she took a fighting stance and pointed her wand at the target in front of her. She repeated the wand movements and the incantation separately a few times for practice before preforming the jinx."Histedius!", making a cross motion with her wand she watched as the green light narrowed in on the target before hitting. This being her first time casting the spell, she knew it would be to strong, but she still was slightly dissapointed when the target only teetered slighlty when hit by the jinx.

Sighing she took her stance again and continued to practice at the same spot until she could knock the target down.

Lina thought more about control than about strength. Her first attempt rather surprised her, even though it felt perfectly natural. It seemed as time went on, she only became more and more confused about herself. Then again, she had heard of people having memories of past lives. Is that what this was? Was she reincarnated? Taking a deep breath to center herself, she cast once more. "Histedius!" This time the target tottered and waved a bit before standing upright again. It was a little like a shock wave, or a splash. She could imagine herself being a droplet of water, the ripples from her easing the further away the target was. Another few steps away she moved to the next line.

Truebridge watched Cedric make an attempt and nodded once. "Focus on the spell hitting the target rather than simply on producing the circles from your wand. In otherwords, your intent should be on where you want the spell to go rather than on managing to cast it in the first place. The green circles will only go as far as your attention influences them to." He advised. "Keep trying."

"It seems we have ourselves a natural." Truebridge observed, fixing his gaze on Lina as she knocked the target down on the first try. He nodded approvingly, and though his expression remained fairly distant he was curious.

Wrong. Thing. To. Say.

"And a detention for your cheek." Truebridge called after her sternly as she left. Disrespect was not something he appreciated. Disrespect to him and about Kazimeriz in the one breath? Well...

"Good, Arya. Keep practicing, you have good aim, you merely need to focus your intent." Truebridge told the Hufflepuff.

"Excellent again, Lina. I will be interested to see how you do from the furthest target back. The other uses of this spell may be of interest to you also and I believe you will pick it up quickly." Truebridge continued to watch students have a go.


ooc: Anyone can feel free to be a 'volunteer' or an 'observer' just check out my previous posts for what to do.

"Histedius." Raiden mumbled the spell under his breath a few times, wand still holstered. He'd... not learned this before. But it didn't sound too difficult. Surely he'd be able to knock down a few of the targets. Maybe not the one farthest away... "Histedius."

First target was four feet away. That... wasn't that far at all. With a glance at the professor, Raiden flicked his wrist to release his wand. Carefully repeating the wand movement a few times, the young man aimed at the target.

"Histedius." The green circles appeared, and closed in, the target went doooooown.

Hm. He watched as the thing got up and reset itself; it was more amusing than it was surprising. Quick, wasn't it.

Lina took a deep breath and cast again. "Histedius!" This time it seemed to hit the target fairly solidly, though it was more notably weaker. She noted that it was about the distance of a small bedroom. Probably enough to knock someone out of a doorway, in that case, from across the room. After a moment, she threw the spell again, just barely getting a better response.

Ivory timidly walked up to the line closest to the target.
It wasn't that far away, right? Just a measly maybe 3 1/2, 4 feet...not that much.

Of course if it was up to her the target would've been right in front of her...maybe 12 inches...probably less.

Staring at the target, she tried to think of it subjectively. It was just like archery, something she'd always liked when she was little, when she would go outside to make a makeshift bow out of twigs and tree bark and then aim at the knot on the tree in the front yard.

Concentrating on that she brought up her wand, practicing the crossing motion a few times while repeating the incantation like a mantra in her mind.

Association. Come on. Remembering the Kaziman's words to her on the best way to learn a new spell, she blocked her mind and tried to associate the effect she wanted with the word.The word with the action. The motion with the word, until everything ran together and she was sure she would never think of the incantation without automatically thinking about the green rings.

"Histedius!"" Her wand came up in a little flick followed by the crossing perpendicular jab.

So excited was she at having pronounced it right and copied the wand movement correctly that Ivory completely forgot to aim exactly. Something she probably should've considered. Instead, she just sort of pointed in the general direction.

Green rings shot from her wand at an angle causing her to take a step back and watch wide-eyed as not the target in front of her but the next one over shuddered and flopped this way and that a few times before righting itself again.

Her face was a mixture of emotions which finally settled into a hesitant smile. She'd done it...sort of. Now she just needed to well...aim. Because she knew there was nothing worse then a wizard who couldn't aim, and she could soo aim. She'd done it before and she could do it now.

Nodding affirmatively and staring down the first target again until she was almost staring at it cross-eyed, she brought up her wand, determined to not move on until this one, this one here was knocked down.

Chris had been watching and waiting for the line of volunteers dwindle down before he raised his hand to try. "Professor Truebridge, I would certainly like to try." the Gryffindor Prefect piped up excitedly. He moved past the students taking notes, and walked forward to the first line, and turned to face the approved targets.

He breathed deeply and hoped he would accidentally blow out the wall trying this spell. He pointed his wand out confidently and spoke the incantation. "Histedius!" A small ring of green light shot out after he did the swish and jabbing motion, and it knocked down the first target. "YES!" Chris did a little jump of excitement, forgetting that he was surrounded by others in a full classroom. He grinned, a little red in the face, as he moved on to the next line. This time he wasn't so sure of the results, the first one only worked prabably because of the lack of distance.

After stepping back to the second line, he pointed his wand again and swished and jabbed a said, "Histedius!" the target did a little wobble, but did not fall down. A frown formed as Chris began to concentrate harder, he was going to try again. He pointed his wand at the target again, and this time he said the spell louder and more focused. "Histedius!" the target fell after much more powerful green rings of light shot from his wand. After he had began to get the hang of this spell, he stepped back two more times, and shot the spell out close to the same strength both times. The distance was not too much of a problem, although he noticed it was harder and harder the further you went back, plus it took more concentration.

Lina moved back to the next line, more curious than determined now. Flick, "Histedius!" jab! Wobble. It seemed... exponential. "The further it is, the more the energy is dispersed, isn't it? It's directional, but it seems to be conal directional."

Marie practiced the incantation and wand movements a few times befor e actually stepping up to the target. Finally confident that she would be able to do this she stepped up to the first target. Being only four feet away from her she thought this would be pretty easy.

Concentrating on the target she said "Histedius" while she gave her wand a flick and then a jab crossing the other way. She watched the green circles of lights head for the target.

Crud!

Well this was going to be harder than she thought. It only tipped the target back a little, it never actually fell over. Once the target had stopped moving she readied herself again. This time she was determined to succeed.

"Histedius!" she shouted this time. Wand waving she watched the green lights again. "YES" she said as the target went tunbling over. Okay, so she was only four feet away but she didn't care, she had managed to knock it over on her second try.

Now to move back to eight feet away.

"Good, Raiden. Work backwards now." Truebridge encouraged him.

Truebridge observed Lina without saying anything, watching her work things out as she cast.

"Well cast, Ivory. Keep your focus on the target, the spell will do the rest." Truebridge noted the little first year's dedication.

"Good, Chris." Truebridge told the Gryffindor approvingly, watching as the boy adjusted his cast over the distances.

"Indeed, good observation. But that too is something that can be mastered, as I will demonstrate to those who wish to learn at the end of the lesson." Truebridge nodded.

"Good, Marie. Next distance now and keep your focus."

Truebridge watched the students take their turns and noted those who were having more difficulty, but more importantly keeping an eye on those who were having trouble to begin with but figured it out after a few tries. It was important that they felt and saw the difference over distance.

Carter watched the different students try. A knockback jinx. That would definitely be useful. His eyes rested on Marie. She looked so happy to finally get it right.

Urm... And by that he meant... she was doing a good job.

He then practiced the incantation in his head. He'd have to try this out sometime.